World Championships, Day Five Prelims: Tes Schouten Paces Field in 200 Breaststroke

Tes Schouten of The Netherlands competes in the 4x50m Medley Relay Women Final during the FINA Swimming Short Course World Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne, Australia, December 17th, 2022. Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships, Day Five Prelims: Tes Schouten Paces Field in 200 Breaststroke

Over the past few months, the Netherlands’ Tes Schouten has produced a collection of impressive performances in the breaststroke events. The Dutchwoman’s roll continued on Thursday morning at the World Championships, where Schouten posted the fastest time of prelims in the 200-meter breaststroke. Schouten covered her four laps in 2:22.43, making her one of only two women to break 2:23 in the morning.

Joining Schouten with a sub-2:23 outing was reigning Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa. Schoenmaker, who claimed silver in the 100 breaststroke earlier in the meet, touched the wall in 2:22.92. Schoenmaker bypassed last year’s edition of the World Championships in favor of racing at the Commonwealth Games, where she was the gold medalist in the 200 breast.

Occupying the third and fourth positions for the semifinals were Denmark’s Thea Blomsterberg (2:23.41) and American Lilly King (2:23.68), who is the defending world champ. The United States’ Kate Douglass also moved into the semifinals with ease, behind a swim of 2:25.50.

World-record holder Evgeniia Chikunova is not the field, due to the ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus following Vladimir Putins’s invasion and declaration of ward against the Ukraine. Chikunova set the world record earlier this year, going 2:17.55. That performance sliced 1.40 seconds off the previous standard, set by Schoenmaker en route to the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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